KAMEN SENGOKUDEN: G GAIM
by Rallen Rolando
Summary: The year is 2014 AD. Zawame City has replaced war with the Beat Ride, a competition between Beat Rider teams to fight over their right to dominate the city. 20-year old Kouta Kazuraba is brought into the Beat Ride and uncovers mysteries that make him realize that the city and its inhabitants are not as they seem. Can he prove that Zawame is his stage and take control of his fate?
1. PROLOGUE - To Pluck The Fruit of Heaven

**Author's note: **Hey there, everyone! Rallen Rolando (or funnerisaralphword on Tumblr or quitetheoresama on Twitter) here, writing the latest Kamen Rider Gaim crossover fanfic! Please note that though I take ownership of this fanfic, various lines throughout the story are written by Æsir-subs and translated from the original Kamen Rider Gaim script, written by Gen Urobuchi. The show itself is produced by Toei Company, TV Asahi and Bandai.

Honestly, the show would've been of a different kind of awesome if it were more like the Gundam Fight, with rules and large hamminess and everything. However, please note that though this is a crossover fic, there are no characters from G Gundam (created by Yasuhiro Imagawa, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced by Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency) and only plotlines from each are carried over.

BTW, props to Lew (otherwise known as pundercracker on Tumblr or strongest_human on Twitter) for being my creative producer. Happy reading! :D

* * *

**仮面戦国伝 Gガイム  
KAMEN SENGOKUDEN G GAIM**

**Prologue - **To Pluck the Fruit of Heaven  
《序章 - 天を獲る》

_"Pluck the fruit of heaven._

_That the world be dyed in your image._

_Is that the glory you seek?_

_Is that burden one you can bear? _

_Know this. The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own._

_We cannot defy the inexorable current of fate that carries us._

_But what if fate itself were to call you…_

_To change the world?_

_To turn the course of the future?_

_You cannot defy your fate._

_But…_

_The fate of the world is in your hands!"_

—Preface of _Ten wo Torumono_, written in 1569 by Ashina no Murasaki  
Translated in English by Cafillo Gustavez y Alcalde in the 1914 book _Forbidden Fruit_


	2. EPISODE 1 - Henshin! A Super-Class, Shin

**KAMEN SENGOKUDEN G GAIM**

《**仮面戦国伝 ****G****ガイム**》

**Episode 1 -** Henshin! A Super-Class, Shining Transformation!  
《**第一章** - 変身! 超級, 輝く変化!》 

"You've lost your mommy, huh," The boy kneels down. 

A child nods in front of him. He cries into his palms, lost and confused. He got lost while he was shopping with his mother, stuck in a street somewhere in the sprawling city of Zawame. He was confused, lost, hungry, reluctant and he didn't know where to go! Though he was faced with the struggle to either live on the streets or ask someone to take him away from the pain, all he could do was cry.

"Well sometimes, life sucks and you wanna cry," The boy stands up, reassuring the child. "But you can't let it beat you!" 

The child could finally read the ID strapped to his turmeric yellow Punjabi Curry House uniform—_ Kazuraba Kouta, born May 1, 1993. Zawame City, Kudagamori-ku 5-1-6-15._

"Kazuraba… Kouta?" The child asks. 

"Oh. So you can read kanji, huh?" Kouta smiled, "that's my name! What's yours?" 

"...Outa," he said reluctantly, "Keiichi." 

"Tell you what, Keiichi, I'll help you find your mom," Kouta knelt down again, "so there's no need to cry." 

Keiichi nods, tears still fresh on his blue shirt. 

"But you gotta take it on like a game," Kouta continues. "If you cry, that's it, you lose." 

"You win by finding a way out without crying. No matter what it is, everyone has the strength to put up a fight."

"Uh-huh…"

"So, what's the first thing you're gonna do?"

"Find my mommy…"

"Right! Find her it is!"

Keiichi realizes that he is in good hands.

The two search throughout the busy street-full of people, some coming home from school, some exhausted from work. Two schoolgirls are intrigued by the commotion Kouta and Keiichi were putting up. The two boys are sure that Keiichi's mother was still within the vicinity.

"MOM!"

"Mommy, are you there?"

"Mom, your son's lost!" 

And so, she comes running.

"Keiichi!"

It's Keiichi's mother-clearly relieved from the distress of losing her son, even for a moment. She kneels down and her son runs up to her, comforted by their reunion.

Kouta is elated. Keiichi doesn't have to cry anymore and his mother doesn't have to panic.

Best of all, he made a difference in the lives of others. That was rare for Kouta Kaburazaka, having his hands full for the sole purpose of 'taking care of himself'.

"You see that? You totally won!"

"Thanks, Kouta-niisan!" Keiichi smiles.

"No problem!"

"Umm… sorry, were you delivering something?" Keiichi's mother asks.

"Yeah, but it's fine. The curry's nice and warm!"

Kouta straps on his helmet and zooms off, heading to his next delivery. As he makes it to his next client, he plugs his headset into his tablet. His smile widens as he hears the energy run wild through his ears- 

"Hello, Zawame City! It's DJ Sagara coming to you live!"

DJ Sagara, an, if not _the _authority on the Beat Ride dancing competition makes one of his many, many streaming broadcasts. Kouta watches his show Beat Riders Hotline whenever he can, always supporting his favorite team-Team Gaim. Noted for their cool, blue uniforms and easygoing attitude, they ride the rhythm and beat the beat, these seven dancers embody the spirit of people who do what they love.

"This one goes out to all the Beat Riders out there cuttin' up the concrete," DJ Sagara's voiceover cuts in, "It's blue skies and sunshine again today over Yggdrasil Tower!" 

As Team Gaim dances, people like Kouta are all over whatever piece of technology just so happens to be broadcasting these sick Beat Riders and their dance moves.

They bounce around, they pop and lock, and the crowd gets pumped with oohs, ahhs and yeahs, chanting Gaim, Gaim, Gaim! and pumping fists. This energy just goes to show that Team Gaim is like a blue fire in the heart of Zawame, and that flicker would engulf the city from the inside out!

But suddenly, a group of boys threatens to extinguish their presence under the Tower.

"Look, Zack, it's that greedy-ass Team Gaim!"

"What do we do now?"

"Peco, you know what to do."

"That?"

"Yeah. That."

"Okay. Like you said-"

"If we do that…"

"...the stage is ours!"

The head of that little group is Zack, sub-leader of Team Baron. Team Baron is known for being 2nd place in the Beat Ride rankings, with one less stage than Gaim under their power. 

Led by Kaito Kumon who for some reason, isn't with them, Team Baron is known for somber yet violent dances. These moves are meant to intimidate and exude strength that either strikes fear or inspiration in the audience members. Of course, this ticks off Team Gaim-everyone knows that they want to bridge together all the Beat Riders and end their rivalries. The team even posts posters that say 'WE WANT PEACE' on their stage walls. 

In a manner very much like Team Baron, they snatch Team Gaim's Player Pass from their speaker set. The LED lights stop flashing and the crowd just loses all semblance of control!

"The heck?"

"What's going on?"

"Mommy, what'll happen to Team Gaim now?"

"Sweetie, I don't know-"

"What just happened?"

"Did DJ Sagara just get this?"

Zack takes Team Gaim's Player's Pass and smiles at the dancers, his teeth as crooked as his deeds. 

"Hey, what's your problem?" Mai Takatsukasa, walks over to Zack. She is Team Gaim's interim leader, as their actual leader, Yuuya Sumii, has been missing for a month.

"Not those Baron creeps again!" Mitsuzane Kureshima, as her interim sub-leader, follows. He gives his team a signal, and sure enough, they all stand determined, with four Sunflower Lockseeds.

"The heck you are!"

"Buzz off!"

"It's not like you're gonna win!"

"Fat chance, Baroness and her servant boys."

"Yeah, what they all said!"

"Get off our stage!" 

The audience surrounds Team Gaim and Team Baron, forming a wall built with barrage of insults and jabs towards the shadowy boys clad in black and red.

"We know, we know," DJ Sagara jumps in during the broadcast. "The streets ain't big enough for the both of you! But that's no excuse to roll around butting heads all over the place!"

Team Baron starts to walk up on the center of the stage.

"Is this yours?" With a cocky air, Zack hands Mai the Player Pass that he released from its prison that is the speaker. She of course, takes the Player Pass back.

"Are you an idiot!?" Mai is aghast. She thinks that the boys of Team Baron do nothing but trample on the legacies, passions and desires of other dancers to keep doing what they want to do! To prevent them from desecrating what Yuuya's done for the team, she brings out a Sunflower Lockseed, which contains an Inves creature from another dimension.

A chorus of 'oohs' is fired at Team Baron. Clearly, Team Baron takes this as a sign of pride.

"Hahah, when you wanna know once and for all who's got the most," DJ Sagara quips, "you settle it no doubt, no fuss with a couple of these babies!"

"_Lockseeds_!"

Sagara's audience is treated to multiple, eyecatchingly tempting close-ups of what could possibly cost them half a mortgage—two, tutto fruitto, A-class Lockseeds.

A-class Lockseeds have stronger Inves attributed to them, and the ones seen in the Beat Riders Hotline are orange and banana-themed Lockseeds.

"You wanna go?" Zack's smile agitates Mai, already frightened by his stepping on her stage.

"Looks like the day's off to an action-packed start! Ex-_ci_-ting!" He continues.

"No problem! Let's—huh!? Micchy?" Though Mai already prepares for action, the other four members of Team Gaim get ready in her place. Micchy, Rat, Chucky and Rika bring out their own Lockseeds. With their thumbs prepped on the Lockseeds' Unlock button, these four stand tall, determined to protect Yuuya's reputation, his very Team Gaim and its stage.

"What, you guys-"

"Mai-san, please, there's no need for you to worry!"

"C'mon, Mai, we're a _team_."

"Rat's right. And if any member of our team suffers…"

"We all bear the brunt and overcome the pain!"

"Whoa-_hoa_, now! That's just a splendid show of solidarity from Team Gaim right there!" DJ Sagara notes. "If all four of them pop these locks, they can call Inves to do the dirty work in style! Keep on winning, build respect, gather Street Cred through Cred Points and you'll be a real champ in no time! OK, rock and ride to the beat, Riders!"

The number of hits on Beat Riders Hotline skyrocket-viewers grow hesitant as to what will happen next. Schoolgirls flock to their tablets, workers sneak in into their computers and a particular group of five Beat Riders fans all hang out at a café with a large TV.

The audience becomes tense. Zack becomes smug, with his confidence rising by the minute. Team Baron starts to jump for joy, believing that this next bout will put victory in their favor. 

"Hey, these Gaim cheaters are gonna violate Article No. 1 of the Beat Ride Official Regulations!" Andou, a member of Team Baron with hair as sharp as his words slings verbal mud at Mai, who doesn't waver in Baron's presence.

"The Article states that Inves Battles can only be initiated with an equal number of combatants on each side," so said Cater, a feminine-looking Baron dancer who some have derisively called Baroness. "right, Andou?" 

"So says the rule book, but can't we make things you know, showy?" asks Enta, a relative newcomer of Team Baron. "That's what dance relies on." 

"What do we do now, Zack?" Three of the other members looked to their sub-leader, wry, smug and cockily showing their Lockseeds to the audience. Oddly, Peco starts to walk away, distancing himself from the situation yet still supporting his team.

"Four on four, as per the Beat Ride rulebook." Though only sixteen years old, Mitsuzane seems convicted to cover for Mai. "Mai-san, you've already done so much for us while Yuuya-san has been away-I think that it is natural that we do something for you instead." 

"Good, at least we've met a quarter of the way through," Zack prepares his Lockseeds. "Enta, Andou, Cater!" 

Enta, Andou and Cater bring out their Sunflower Lockseeds, ready to claim the stage. 

"Verrrry well." Zack releases the Lock on his Lockseeds.

"It's on. For Yuuya!" Micchy says with a commanding glare.

"For Kaito!" Zack laughs with a condescending grin.

"GO, INVES!" 

Eight creatures fall from open zippers in the sky onto a digital battlefield. The crowd goes even wilder, knowing that these Inves will change the fate of the Beat Riders Game.

"Oh. My. _GOD_!" DJ Sagara exclaimed! "You folks at home are _not_ gonna wanna hafta really touch that dial-this Inves Battle just got seriously personal, and I like it!"

"3… 2… 1… " the speakers resonate, "...BATTLE, START!"

The eight Inves battle it out, giving themselves everything they've got to please their owners! Some gang up on another while some plow their way through! One Inves tries to perform a spin in order to shy away his opponents from attacking! Two Inves do it old-school by grabbing the face of another Inves! One Inves zooms in on one throwing his teammate into an enemy!

Neither team can do anything while this chaos is going on!

_What's gonna happen to us_!? 

"Kaaaagh!"

"Ooaack!"

"Uufgh!"

"Gaaan!"

"Aaaaa!"

"Iiierf!"

"Mauuuu!"

"Rrraarrl!"

Needless to say, the heat rages on! The air gets tense and the crowd is about to lose all control! Mai becomes hesitant as to what'll happen next- 

Sure enough, she has every right to be scared. Peco readies a slingshot as he and Zack smile at each other. 

"As Article 2 of Regulations states that you forfeit any Inves Battle by letting go of your Lockseeds," DJ Sagara recounts, "do you think these guys will be able to-Get. Back. In. Their. Game?"

However, just as soon as the fight reaches a halfway point, Zack fires a guitar pick-wait, no, four guitar picks! 

"Ouch!"

"Just a little-hey!"

"Ugh! That hurt!"

"Oww…!"

Each picks homes in on the palms of Micchy and his comrades-in-arms. In a stroke of luck, no one's noticed that Team Gaim's Lockseeds fell out of their owners' hands! 

Four Inves escape the battlefield and reach their berserk state. Berserk Inves are no longer digital representations of a Beat Rider team's struggle for victory. Now, watch as each Inves flash their many teeth at their owners, _blinded by their own helplessness_!

"Mai, look out!"

"Yuuya wouldn't have done anything like this! I feel so stupid!"

"Me too!"

"Micchy, sorry everything had to turn out like this!"

"Guys..." Mai's knees wobble like jelly, then collapse to the ground like a souflée.

"Hey, stupid, don't you know you don't let go of your lock during a match?" Zack and Peco high-five, upsetting Mai even more. 

If nothing's done within the next five minutes, what's will happen to Team Gaim? 

"What the-!?" Kouta, however speeds up. His feet subtly tap as he puts his pedal to the medal to save his friends. With the month-long absence of Yuuya already putting enough pressure on the team, Kouta has to stop Mai and company from jeopardizing it further. 

Sure enough, four Inves leave the battlefield and everyone's drowning in fear-save for a child who notices the weaponized guitar picks. 

"Huh," the child picks one pick up. "What the-huh!?"

One of the four Inves creeps nearer and nearer!

"Keiichi, get back!" A boy emerges from a motorcycle to shield Keiichi from the Inves attack. 

"Kouta-niisan!?" It's Keiichi, now fully acquainted with Kouta's heroics.

In the spur of the moment, however, Keiichi is handed to his mother while Kouta promptly attempts to fight the monsters off.

"Ohta-san…" Kouta backflips out of his motorcycle.

"I'll explain everything…" Kouta dropkicks one Inves.

"Later…" Kouta dodges an attack.

"For now…" Kouta jumps then headbutts another Inves.

"Please…" Kouta realizes that he is surrounded.

"Just, RUN!" Making sure to avoid the Inves' claws, Kouta sweep kicks all of them.

All four Inves promptly fall down. 

"It's Kouta-kun!" A fan points and yells at the newly-crowned savior of children. 

Five different Beat Riders Hotline viewers spit their drinks out. 

"Kouta Kazuraba!?"

"That guy went off the team as soon as Yuuya-san disappeared!"

"Things just got personal!"

"Wait… is that a-"

"Don't tell me."

While Rat, Rika and Chucky jump for joy, Mai looks even more distraught. Micchy however, smiles faintly, almost as if he knows what's going on.

"Oh, looks like Team Gaim's former subleader Kouta Kazuraba is back in ac-" DJ Sagara notices something in the heat of the moment. "Wait, why does have a juicy LS-06 Orange Lockseed? What's that thing he's wearing on his waist!?" 

"LOCK _ON_!" The belt spoke!? 

"LOCK _ON_!" The belt really did speak. 

"Did Kouta Kazuraba just put that Orange Lockseed inside that belt-thing!?" DJ Sagara is shocked _and_ in character. "What's!? Gonna!? Happen!? Next!?"

"Just what is going on out there!?"

"What's gonna happen to Kouta!?"

"Is everything alright?"

"_**HENSHIN**_!" Kouta yells, throwing his arms left and right. 

As Kouta whips his right hand and opens it to the sky, a circular zipper opens, revealing a mysterious, psychedelic translation of Mother Nature's creation. Most viewers of the Hotline have probably noticed by now that this 'trippy forest' the same dimension from which the Inves originate. The four Inves that arrived here into Zawame in question try to push themselves back up again.

From the circular rip in the sky falls a metallic orange-like structure that looks like an orange, despite two prominent holes. Hey, even the orange exterior has bumps! Just as the audience pieces this description together, it falls on Kouta. Its recoil is strong enough to knock the four Inves back to the ground.

"ORANGE ARMS!" The belt spoke as the metal orange squeezes itself onto Kouta's head.

The orange folds into citrussy shoulder pads, a zesty chestplate and pithy back armor that reveals a sweet, sweet helmet where Kouta's head was. The boy who was once a dancer is now a warrior. The lives of others are placed into his hands, his own beyond his control.

"SOIYA! HANAMICHI, _ON STAGE_!" The belt announces Kouta's re-intruduction into BRH.

"From now on, this is _my_ stage!" Kouta makes a grand entrance, almost as dictated by his belt. 

Though he looks like he's ready to fight, Kouta's not used to his weapons. The orange shogun-samurai-whatever (as foreign Beat Riders Hotline followers may put it) is not as accustomed to his weapons as he's supposed to be.

"So, how do I work this again?" Kouta starts frantically pulling a trigger on the inner side of a bifurcated sword-gun, inscribed on it in white the phrase LSW-01 Musou Saber. With what seems to be a look of approval for someone whose face is obscured, Kouta then shoots the Saber at the other four Inves. 

"What!? I'm all out?" Yet for some dramatic reason, he seems to have run out of ammo. 

"So It looks like one in every five Inves tends to get knocked into a wall by orange samurai," DJ Sagara jests, "according to a recent survey by Me, DJ Sagara!" 

"Wait. I forgot," Kouta promptly slashes back at the Inves that come to attack him, and he retaliates well enough for four of them them to explode in a fury of citrus. "This is a _sword_."

Kouta even does a kendo move for show-the crowd _just got back together _with him!

However, that one Inves that was pinned to a wall is still alive and right behind him. As it turns out, another surprise befalls Kouta as well-there's a smaller blade attached to the right side of his belt. Inscribed on it is the phrase LSW-02 Daidaimaru. 

"Wait-is that a notch? Is _that_ a slot?" Kouta puts together the bottom notch of the Daidaimaru in the slot in which it belongs. "Do they?"

"They do!" The Daidaimaru and the Musou Saber come together. 

"Look at that-an orange naginata. Ain't that sweet?" DJ Sagara interrupts. "Perhaps we'll call this the Musou Saber-Naginata _Mo_. _De_, then, huh, Ri_ders_?"

"LOCK _OFF_!" The belt has to part ways with the Orange Lockseed, which is now attached to the Musou Saber Naginata.

"LOCK _ON_!" He then removes the Lockseed and inserts it inside _another_ slot on the Saber's hilt itself. Kouta tries shielding himself by spinning the newly-made lance in front of him-surprisingly enough, it even creates a barrier that looks exactly like orange peel!

"Let's see you zest this!" Kouta begs for the collective groan of audiences in and out of Zawame City while pulling a yellow knob outward.

"ORANGE CHARGE!" Kouta begins slashing sword beams at the nearby Inves.

"ICHI!" Wait, it's far away now thanks to one sword beam.

"JUU!" Two horizontal orange sword beams.

"HYAKU!" Three vertical orange sword beams.

"SEN!" Four orange sword beams.

"MAN!" 

Kouta finishes showily, with a sword beam created from a stab that separate into five. These five beams slowly retract back into their original orange sword beam form that_ stabs the Inves in the face_. The creature explodes into orange with an odd green tuft of smoke at the very top of the explosion. 

"YEAH!"  
"Kouta-san, you did it!"  
"Team Gaim's back again!"

Kouta slaps the lid back on his Lockseed. However, five Sunflower Lockseeds are strewn around him, broken by the deaths of the Inves they contained. Suddenly, the armor comes off and Kouta feels a familiar pair of arms wrap around his legs.

"Kouta…" Mai says, slowly aware of what she's done to the team.

"Kouta-niisan!" Keiichi hugs him, in deep, deep gratitude over what just happened to him. "You're so awesome, you've been my hero twice!"

"Heheh," Kouta hugs him back and pats his head, "awesome? I've never been called that before in my life… but thanks!" 

Kouta then walks on over to Mai, worried. Mai's been acting incredibly gutsy and headstrong for a Beat Rider Team sub-leader, especially since Yuuya's been missing for a month. Though other people don't seem to notice, they don't seem to notice that she might become a burden that most will regret to bear.

"You okay, Mai?" Kouta returns to her.

"Kouta-san!" Team Gaim returns to Kouta.

"You guys okay?"

"We're fine."

"Apart from that Kouta, we _did_ lose four Lockseeds in one go." 

But suddenly, the audience remembers that Team Baron exists,

"You called your Inves off first," Zack gloats, while Peco does a snide, sarcastic _tsk_, _tsk_, _tsk_. "which means we win by forfeit, do we not?" 

"YOU WIN!" Team Baron's Sunflower Lockseed gets re-locked, with the Inves that emerged from that mystical jungle dimension heading home. 

"Mai," Kouta tries to get across to her, leaving his delivery alone for a few minutes. "Hey, you forgot your hat!"

"Oh, shut up, Kouta, why did you-ugh," Mai is upset. "Just leave me alone!" 

"And for that matter, leave Team Gaim alone too."

"Mai, please understand-"

"You're the one that called the Beat Ride dumb kiddy stuff!"

"Listen to me, at the-"

"Just go back to being all responsible and adult!"

"Please-"

"Don't bother us again!" 

Kouta stops to wonder. How would Yuuya deal with this situation? Cool, calm, collected, reasonable, reliable and most definitely _real_ Yuuya? If Yuuya were still here, Kouta would be working and Yuuya would actually find a way to keep the Lockseed on him without risking dropping it. Either that or gather that Baron's goons cheated their way through winning.

However, no one can deny that Team Baron took it all like a winner; not even Yuuya's spirit. 

Kouta started to find himself slowly but surely, slipping into an odd, but very realistic daydream.

"Mai! Are you okay?" Yuuya steps in, like a father dealing with his bickering children. 

"I'm sorry, Yuuya," Mai looks down on herself, head tilting in the same direction as her self-esteem. "You got me four Lockseeds! Four Lockseeds!" 

"...and yet I… I…"

"...You screwed it up, huh?"

"You're right, I screwed it up!"

"Look, you're not at fault. But you should've waited for me so that the team didn't have to-"

"Baron's stolen our stage!"

"Yes, yes, I know! But how many times have I told all of you-_you_ especially-to wait for me if anything goes down? You guys know I can handle it. You chose me as leader."

"But we can't rely on you for everything, Yuuya! You've got other things to do..,"

"Mai, please-"

"Once again, I'm sorry!" Mai dashes like her team's chances of reaching first place. 

"Yo, been a while." Yuuya waves to Kouta.

"You saved her back there, didn't you, Kouta?" Yuuya's voice echoes, reverberating throughout Kouta's head. Kouta then snaps himself out of his daydream and shakes his head back into reality, while the image of Yuuya Sumii abruptly fades from his head.

"Damn, where was I? Oh, right, a delivery." Kouta gets back on the motorcycle of reality and drives. Shaking his head, wearing his earphones to catch up on what was at least, left of the week's Beat Riders Hotline program.. 

"Oh man!" DJ Sagara begins his end. "With the heat turned up, Team Gaim's rep just couldn't hold on! Which means, they forfeit, baby! Ouch!"

However, in what looks like a turn for the better, he has this to say.

"However, I'm sure you folks at home and certainly you peeps who were just at Yggdrasil Tower a moment ago just saw Kouta's new transformation!" The DJ host brings a glimmer of hope to Team Gaim. "Now he's raking in Cred Points like nobody's business! Which Team Baron doesn't have!"

"So what'll it be, folks?" The end of the show isn't nigh, but it's certainly nearby. "The battle over the town of Zawame or the battle over Cred Points?"

And yet for some reason, despite the ultimatum, Team Baron still considers this a victory. Hanging out with their drinks in that white room that they've claimed as a result of their win against Team Pop Up just weeks back, Baron languishes in the spoils of its conquest. 

"Piece of cake!"

"Hell's yeah!"

"Time to slice the orange."

"Dude, what? What orange is there to even segment!?"

"Yeah, We got this in the _bag_." 

"Hey, Kaito-san!" Peco stands up excitedly. "We're steamrolling these ruffians!" 

"Is that news?" Kaito Kumon descends down a staircase from his lofty Leader's Area. "The weak shall perish, and the strong survive. Such are the rules of nature."

"What he said!"

"YEAH!"

Team Gaim, however, isn't relishing the fruits of their labor. Bitter, hard and generally unappetizing, Rat, Rika and Micchy feel as if they're beyond themselves. 

"I can't believe those Baron thugs…" Rat sighs.

"If Kouta were still here…" Micchy expels some anguish of his own. 

"Micchy, are you _still_ going on about him?" Mai becomes even more upset, but even she can't deny it. With Yuuya gone, Kouta is the closest thing Team Gaim has to a leader even if Mai's meant to substitute for him. Even the team's other Beat Riders acknowledge this.

"Well," Rika realizes, "he _did_ just bail us out!"

"Man," Rat pines over what had happened before. "why'd he have to go and quit the team?"

Meanwhile, Kouta is at Drupers-a fruit-themed café which has become the popular hangout of non-Beat Riding youth. After Kouta left the team, he's been seeing himself relax and chill out here after work at either the Punjabi Curry House or a construction site for one of Zawame City's new elementary schools.

With his life getting busier with work, this is his sole refuge apart from home, where he lives with his 25-year old sister, Akira Kazuraba.

"Welcome to Drupers!" A waitress brings two women inside. "Right this way." 

There he is, sitting at Drupers' most popular table-the Literal Fruit Stand, aptly named for its fountain-like rack stand strewn with fruits of all kinds from aroun the world. Which is odd, as many of their fruits are locally grown and sourced unless there is product that isn't available elsewhere.

To name seven, oranges, pineapples, bananas, melons, grapes, (oddly) durians and-

"-oh, wait," Kouta says, "is this a lemon?"

Another citrus in invades his field of oranges.

Drupers' proprietor, Kiyojiro Bandou felt that someting was amiss with Kouta-at least for the past month. Even Yuuya would come with Kouta to hang out and have a few drinks and maybe a banana or two. That's when Bandou-san, as everyone had called him, knew exactly what miserable, saddened, Kouta Kazuraba had wanted-his favorite, top-selling off-menu Parfait L'Orange. 

"Ugh," he says to himself, "either way, it's been a different street from when you took off..." 

"Yuuya…" 

Kouta mulls over Yuuya's disappearance as Beat Riders Hotline plays on a nearby TV. 

"Everyone's big into the Inves Game now," Bandou-san pats Kouta on the back, "But c'mon dude, get your mind off the loss. Even when your friend's missing, your appetite should be with you!" 

Sure enough, Bandou was right. The parfait catches Kouta's eye. 

The Parfait L'Orange was marvelous, delectable and almost every other adjective in a foodie's dictionary. Stuffed with rich globs of clotted cream and layers of bright yet chewy marmalade thumbprint cookies soaked in honey at the bottom, a scoop of super-sweet orange creamsicle ice cream under _nine_ fresh Valencia orange segments, topped again with clotted cream and _another _orange segment, this time with the peel left on. 

And in true Drupers fashion, the Parfait was topped with two macarons-this time, flavored with satsuma and ponkan. 

"Eat up." Bandou-san offered the sullen Kouta a spoon. "On the house."

So Kouta did. Though Team Gaim's loss was bitter, and the Parfait L'Orange only attempted to sweeten it up. Crunch, cream and citrus somehow managed to strike a chord in Kouta-though an unexpected combination, Kouta enjoyed it. 

Just not as much as he usually does. 

In the background, though, DJ Sagara was ending this week's episode of BRH. 

"Beat Riders Hotline's always looking for comments and clips from our audience!" DJ Sagara's conclusion is finally nigh. "Send us anything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow, anywhen, anyday! If you see a hot battle goin' on downtown or the latest, hottest dance moves, send it here at BRH_Sagara on Twitter! Don't forget to like our page on Facebook for the latest updates, too! Until next week, see you, Ri_ders_!"

"This program was brought to you by," a female announcer said, "the tree that bears the fruit of your future, Yggdrasil Corporation. Promotional consideration was also funded by these sponsors."

Unsurprisingly, the three other companies that sponsor the Beat Riders Hotline are subsidiaries of Yggdrasil, at least to Kouta's knowledge. Akira actually works for one of them, with quite a check to go along with it.

"It's sad to see, really." Kouta said. "This isn't even the first time that Yuuya disappeared on us like it was no big deal. Knowing him, he'd say that the team rankings might as well be a big list of who has the most Lockseeds."

"The city _is_ crawling with Lock Dealers," Bandou comes back to Kouta, "and of course, you have people like Baron trying to take all of them." 

"I'll take five." The waitress says, promptly checking her cellphone and chewing her banana-flavored bubblegum. 

"What? _Again_?" Bandou-san's face lights up. "Well, anyway, Kouta, better to have you kids battling in a game than fighting for real." 

"We easily could," Kouta begins by eating the macaron. "I mean, how else would you be able to get a bunch of people to fight over a ci-ahh, forget it, Bandou-san, how much for some extra clotted cream?" 

For a new generation, new life. 

With the advent of new technologies, modes of education and training, Yggdrasil has created a new place for those to call home. Welcome to the planned municipality of Zawame City-the blueprint for a better life. 

From the tree that bears the fruit of your future, Yggdrasil Corporation.

Welcome home. 

Kouta arrives home at his family's apartment. Haggard from work, he removes his shoes as if he had an equally exhausting day at college-which Kouta had left after second year due to his parents' death.

All work and no play does not a happy Kouta make, and a not happy Kouta sits down at the dinner table. 

"Sis…" He folds his head in his crossed arms, filled with contempt, as well as guilt for what had happened to his team. "What does it mean to be an adult?"

Akira chuckled. Her lipstick frames a smile as she peels vegetables for tomorrow's nikujaga, with loads of thinly cut beef slices mixed with oodles of caramelized spring onion, browned potatoes and carrots-all cooked in an mixture of shoyu, mirin, ginger and oyster sauce. Though Kouta was already twenty years old, she could already tell that he was the same boy who looked up to henshin heroes when he was in kindergarten.

"It means being able to look after of yourself," She looks up at the sunset as if she were someone's grandmother. "and you're already paying your rent and buying your own food."

"You're an adult now, Kouta!" Akira looks back at Kouta. That line strikes a chord in him, straightening the alternating cream and beige squares on his shirt frumped with routine.

"But Sis, looking after myself is just about all I can do, though." Kouta starts to intrigue Akira, realizing that he hasn't gotten the full hang of it yet. "My hands are full with work."

" I've had to drop everything I used to really care about to do it," Kouta lamented again as he carried vegetables to the fridge. "I only know how to take care of myself."

"That's sacrifice for you, Kouta," Akira sighs, cutting the carrots into chunks to absorb the sauce for tonight. "You learn to live with it and eventually feel that what you do _now_ is more fulfilling."

"But how's that any different to how I was living before?"

"Kouta…"

"Ever since Mom and Dad died, you've honestly really—"

"Except I haven't."

"Huh?"

"I wanna transform."

"Into what?"

"Into someone strong enough to do everything."

"You're not just going to wake one day and be a totally different person, you know?"

"Life is _not_ that easy, kiddo!" All of a sudden, a punch to the stomach. "Just take things slow, and you'll become the adult you wanna be."

Kouta suddenly finds himself holding a half-peeled carrot and a vegetable peeler with the same shocked look on his face when he regretted going to Drupers after work thanks to that parfait he snuck in.

"Now," Akira commanded. "get peeling."

And after what was possibly the best batch of nikujaga that fortnight, Kouta finds himself lying in the bed. He holds up his new belt-like device and holds it up to the moonlight. Kouta does what he hasn't done in _years_ thanks to all the work he's gone through—_reflect on his life_.

And so he does that as he sleeps, feeling his way into another day of work.

_Ever since our parents died, my sister's been my guardian._

_But I don't wanna impose on her anymore._

_I need to become an adult as soon as I can._

But…

_If it really does take sacrifice..._

_then why did I have to suffer knowing that someone died for my fate?_

_When someone sacrifices themselves, do they die with pain that they can't endure?_

_Are there some sacrifices that just had to be made for no reason we'll ever figure out?  
_

_Was your death really necessary?_

_If so…_

_Why did you have to die?_

_Why did it have to be me?_

_Why did I have to kill you…_

_Yuuya__!?_


End file.
